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Friday, April 19, 2013

Math – Unit 10 wraps up on
Monday with the test. Unit 11 goes into
more detail with volume which will be somewhat of a familiar territory. I have been excited to see great gain in math
facts knowing how crucial they are for the rest of our lives. I have been lucky enough to teach advanced
math this week for Ms. Weber, what a lot of fun that has been. Ms. Weber returns on Monday.

Social Studies – We
have been busy creating timelines of the 7 most important events of the Revolutionary
War as determined by each student.
Students really have to use their comparing and contrasting skills for
this and I look forward to seeing their thinking on Monday when it is due.

Science – We finished our Grand Canyon
Challenge last week but have been out of toner.
As soon as we are able to print them, the students will be defending
their designs to the class and we will display them in the hallway. We also finished and discuss our landforms
assessment. Students had to work their
way through it using known resources and they ended up grading themselves as
well. The most important piece of this
was the self-reflection that happened after the assessment; how can they grow
and use this experience?

Reading– We have been using Time for Kids a lot as we
work on reading for information and reading for learning. We have also been busy with our tangle of the
Titles books, first projects are due next Monday. We have been reading and reciting a lot of
poetry as well.

Writing – We have continued our poetry exploration and
written poetry inspired by the sounds in our lives, as well as some inspired by
the dreary rainy days. Today we have two
slam poets coming from Madison
to visit us and discuss what it means to be a professional poet and where they get
their inspiration from.

Special Notes –

* Schedules get really wonky in April and May
for 5th grade so I continually update the calendar with information
and deadlines as well as other events so do check it out.

* What a week it has been. We are looking forward to a much calmer and
quieter week next week.

* Thank you to the wonderful
parents that were able to come with us to the Engineering Expo. The trip is such a hit because of how many
parents we are able to bring. The students
really represented us well; I am very, very proud of them

* The Egg Drop is coming! But not until May… The students are thrilled they
get to partake in this 5th grade tradition. We are looking for people to donate a
box of Ziploc sandwich bags, as well as 4 dozen eggs. If you would like to donate one of those
items (such as one dozen eggs) please let me know as it will be used for the egg
drop. Eggs will not be due until later
in May.

* Yes, it’s true; there will be
another lock out this year. This year’s
event will take place June 5th and more information will come in
May.

* Graduation save the date has
been sent out. Thank you to Fran, Sharon
and Darla for spearheading!

* Innovation day planning slips are due April 30th with
parent signature. All materials needed
for the day needs to be brought to school by May 23rd.

* I have some dates for you to put
on your calendars: I have some dates for you to put on your calendars: Early
Release CRT Tuesday, April 23rd, Glacier
Creek visit April 30th 8:30 to 10:15 AM, 5th grade track
meet Thursday, May 2nd, MAP testing Map 6th and 7th
1 PM, Innovation Day Wednesday, May 8th all day, Sub all day May 15th,
Tangle of the Titles May 20th1 PM, Lock Out June 5th
all day, 5th Grade Graduation June 7th 1:30 PM in
lunch room.